1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an axial fan motor, and more particularly, to an axial fan motor for use in a cooling unit for air-cooling the heat sink of a heating element, such as a CPU, as well as to a cooling unit equipped with the axial fan motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a heat sink is generally used in electronic equipment, such as a personal computer, in order to effectively release heat from a heating element, such as a CPU. In combination with the heat sink, an axial fan motor is used in order to forcibly cool the heat sink.
Since such an axial fan motor has a motor disposed at a central portion thereof, air flow exhausted from the central portion is of lower volume than air flow exhausted from a peripheral portion of the axial fan motor, with a resultant failure to uniformly cool the entire heat sink. Since air exhausted from the axial fan motor is of a whirl flow, cooling air fails to reach sufficiently deep into the heat sink along its cooling fins.
In order to compensate for any lack of cooling capability of an axial fan motor, an axial fan motor integrally equipped with air rectification blades is proposed in, for example, Japanese Application No. 2000-223696. The air rectification blades are intended to control air flow exhausted from the axial fan motor so as to produce uniform cooling air flow without whirls.
With recent increasing demands for reduction in size, weight, and cost of electronic equipment, release of heat from high integrated components has become a significant problem to solve.